Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have been thinking of ways for my system to care for itself sould we go away for a long weekend or something similar... I did a search on Ebay and came across automatic fish feeders... there seem to be quite a range of them out there.... anybody used one before? how much feed can they hold? are they any good?

AM, this reply is not really going to help you, but if you had perch an auto feeder consists of chucking a bucket of duckweed in the tank

yeah, I know that if I had veg eating fish it would not be a problem and as such that will be my order next time... but for now my barra need an automated system and auto fish feeders look the go - just looking for people who have used them before to give me some feedback on them

I'm working on plans for cheap (under $10ish) auto feeders. That can be made fairly easy.

One of them is a demand auto feeder (i.e the fish activate it and it dispenses food)

The other is going to be electric and run on a timer

The only thing slowing me down is, i do not yet have my fish to test it on.


But a word of caution, dont rely on auto feeders alone. As the one on a timer can feed dead fish or sick fish that arent feeding (which of course would be bad)

But then again, if you win that aquaponics $500 dollars..theres a nice belt feeder on there

That would be cool...
The feeder would only be for weekends when we are away and stuff like that, not a full time option...

but keep us up to date with your creation/invention - it sounds interesting!

I'm using a little auto feeder, battery operated. It cost around 10 dollars and can be adjusted a bit on the food it dispenses. I'm only feeding four guppies with it in a 120 lt aquarium. Its a cylinder that is timed to dispense twice a day. Not the size needed for a lot of hungrey fish but the concept is sound.

I like the idea, auto feeder and a pre top up tank on float switch - go on holiday! What 'farmer' can do that!

Most interested in all DIY designs.

Will hopefully have something to show within a fortnight

There was also something on New Inventors a couple of weeks ago for feeding fish in dams. The guy had put a UV light on a catamaran shaped pontoon with a perspex cover over it. The light goes on at night, as expected, and insects are attracted to it, fly in, but hit the perspex and fall in the water... gulp!

We were thinking of maybe trying to alter some of those little solar garden lights to do the same thing. Just get a smaller UV bulb, if possible. You probably won't get light all night from the solar panel, but you should get enough to give the fish a feed just after dark.

Yeah. i saw that too. Just be aware that it is indescriminate in the killing, and will kill insects that your fish dont eat. (but then silver perch and some other fish eat just about anything )

Good idea, look forward to hearing how it works.

hi all a friend of mine with a 20000tank for stock water put in 50 trout and of a night turns on an insecta flash the trout love it [ a cooked meal every night]

Only 50, he probably could have got a few more in there

So how much feed would your feeder hold GF?

Its made more for little aquariums but will hold about 1/2 cup of feed I'd guess. I'll post some pictures of it.